How To Become A CISO, Part 1

Think you're ready for the top job? Here's part 1 of a series to help you land that prime chief information security officer position.

So you want to be a CISO, huh? Think you're ready to lead a small band of white knights into battle against a countless, hidden enemy? Ready to play both savior and scapegoat, depending on what the day brings? Ready to beg, borrow, and steal for the resources you need to protect your company?

Yes? OK, then, you're ready to do the job... but can you get the job? For the next several weeks, we're dedicating Mondays to helping you find the path to the big job, which won't be easy to define.

"There's not a standard path [to the CISO job] like so many other professions," says Mark Aiello, president of the Boston cyber security staffing firm Cyber360 Solutions. "We can't even agree on how to spell cyber security." (Cybersecurity? Cyber-security?)

Even the words "engineer" and "administrator" don't mean the same thing from company to company. The bad news, then, is that it is hard to know what career steps to take next.

The good news, though, is that the ladder you're already climbing could lead you to the CISO seat.

Despite the variety of routes to the top, Aiello does identify a few consistent trends:

Most CISOs are hired from outside the company. Following the perplexing logic that somebody you don't know must be smarter than somebody you do know, "the vast majority" of organizations look outside their walls for a CISO, Aiello says. However, they will be more likely to hire an insider for the CISO job if it's a newly created position.

So being in the right place at the right time may help you get that newly minted CISO gig, but beware...

A company's first CISO has less power than its subsequent CISOs. "That first CISO tends to not have as many teeth as the second one," Aiello says. They're likely to be a step below the true C-suite and report to the chief information officer.

Aiello thinks the CISO should be separate from the rest of the IT organization, because security not only impacts technology. "Security organizations are still relatively small [in size], in comparison to the IT department, but huge in terms of importance."

Most companies want to hire a CISO who's already a CISO somewhere else. This raises a question: How do you get that first CISO job if you can only get one if you already have one? Aiello says you may convince a new employer to take you on if you've reached the highest security position at your current company -- like director or vice president of security -- as long as you have experience within the appropriate industry vertical: finance, healthcare, etc.

CISOs are more likely to come from a technical background. Though there are people who rise to the security job from outside the IT department -- we'll hear some of their stories in the course of this series -- Aiello says that most of today's CISOs began their careers in an information techology job of some ilk. As the field matures and more IT functions are outsourced, that may change.

A CISSP certification isn't necessarily required for a CISO. In order to have climbed the infosecurity ladder high enough to be eligible for the "chief" title, you probably will have needed a CISSP already. However, if you've made it this far without one, you probably won't need one now, says Aiello. A four-year college degree, however, is something a prospective employer will want.

As the CISO job grows bigger and more important, Aiello says, the key is proactively gathering all the knowledge and experience you can.

"Raise your hand. Volunteer," he says. If you've spent most of your career outside of the nitty-gritty, hard-core IT security world, spend more time learning about the tactical side -- the day-to-day tasks of securing a business. If you are from a heavy technical background, learn as much as you can about the business side.

"Understand the problems your technology is there to solve," he says. "Understand what [the company is] securing and why they're securing it."

In the coming weeks, we'll spin out the origin stories of men and women currently holding the CISO position at a variety of organizations. Come back to Dark Reading next Monday for the first "how I became a CISO" tale.

Sara Peters is Senior Editor at Dark Reading and formerly the editor-in-chief of Enterprise Efficiency. Prior that she was senior editor for the Computer Security Institute, writing and speaking about virtualization, identity management, cybersecurity law, and a myriad ... View Full Bio

This is a great article, and I can't wait for the rest of the series. Mark Aiello makes some excellent points, especially regarding companies where the CISO is a newly formed role. What I would like to know is why a company that creates the new CISO role would have that person report to the CIO. That creates a potential conflict of interest, and violates a sacred rule of integrity – the separation of duties (SoD). SoD is a fundamental principle of regulations like SOX and GLBA, yet organizations do not see that it also applies to security, where it is just as critical as it is to the financial aspects of the organization. But how do you communicate that to an organization where the CIO is firmly entrenched, and has great influence with the rest of the C-suite? It would be interesting to hear from CEOs of organizations where CISOs report to CIOs, to see what their rationale was for allowing that reporting structure.

@GonzSTL This is a good idea: "It would be interesting to hear from CEOs of organizations where CISOs report to CIOs, to see what their rationale was for allowing that reporting structure." Maybe we can do a story or two on that in the near future.

Sara, that would be a very interesting story. We often hear from CIOs and CISOs regarding this topic, but rarely hear from CEOs. Recently, the SEC commissioner hinted that cyber security should be a part of the board of directors' risk oversight responsibilities. That almost implies that the CISO should have a seat at the C table.

@GonzSTL I'd imagine that most companies put the CISO under the CIO, because they still see security as a part of IT, and only IT. I understand why -- most of the security efforts rely on IT in one way or another. It does seem a bit silly to name anybody "chief" and have them report to anyone but the CEO, but I imagine that some companies just add the position to add a new tier to the payment structure and give the top security person a raise.... it amazes me just how often that sort of thing happens in big corporations

@Sara, I think that most CISO are assigned under the CIO is because most companies do not realize how effective a CISO can be if he\she were under, say the CFO. In all of the companies I've worked for the CFO was a very big deal and had power, thus that gave the CISO a direct ear to someone who could make a difference, and let's face it, if you (CIO) control the CISO, you control the message.

I think we have seen the risks where having the CISO reporting to the CIO (Target comes to mind). As long as the CISO is viewed as being IT centric, and not about risk management, there will be an inclination to pidgeonhole it in the former category. At a minimum, it should be reporting to the CFO, and ideally to the CEO. Information protection is crucial to the operations and success of the business, and to have it subordiante to a role that is primarily operational is a recipe for disaster.

As for certifications, having a CISSP as a requirement to being a CISO is not mandatory. That being said, there are significant benefits in possessing it. Primarily, it ensures a common baseline, standardization of knowledge and common language. Secondly, it (and complimentary certifications such as the CISM, CISA and CRISC) is as close as currently we have as profesional designations. Both the ISC2 and ISACA have an ethics requirement, and with privacy and information being so tightly coupled these days, ethical and professional conduct considerations are crucial for a business leader. Just as I woul expect the CFO to be a CPA/CA, a Chief Counsel being a lawyer/JD, I would expect a CISO to be a CISSP/CISM/CISA/CRISC.

The fact is, the CISO role is hibrid in nature, requring both business acumen, technical knowledge, legal/regulatory, etc. Although I do not expect a CISO to configure a firewall, they should understand what it provides as a security control, after all.

@ArthurK439 I agree with this: Information protection is crucial to the operations and success of the business, and to have it subordiante to a role that is primarily operational is a recipe for disaster. But I also just spoke to a CISO who reports to a CIO, and he said that it isn't a problem with this CIO, because they understand and respect security. I wonder if, ultimately, it all depends upon the specific people, not their titles or organizational structure.

The article also speaks to needing to beg, borrow, and steal resources when taking on the role of CISO. I propose in many instances this constraint is largely self imposed as a direct result of not appropriately managing expectations and building the required trusting relationships at the beginning. Furthermore, do we really want to position the CISO as a professional scapegoat? Or does it make more sense to position the CISO as someone with the professional integrity and intestinal fortitude needed to hold their ground while leveraging soft skills for effectively building and managing a balanced security program?

"A company's first CISO has less power than its subsequent CISOs". Quite honestly, CISOs are never really empowered. With few exceptions, they tend to be placed at the upper end of middle management or the lower end of upper management. Ideally they should have an equivalent level of influence as a CFO, CIO, or COO.

"CISOs are more likely to come from a technical background." God no. On paper they might appear to have significant technical breadth/depth but in reality have had a career based in policy/compliance. CISOs that are technical are a rarity in my experience.

"A CISSP certification isn't necessarily required for a CISO." It's not required in the sense that it's a worthless certification that does nothing to asset the level of security apptitude one possesses. But I am yet to see a CISO candidate opening/job posting that does not have "CISSP or equivalent" in the qualifications.

That's a great point about how important (and prevalent) CISSP certification actually is for someome in the CISO role. My suspicion is that it's necessary, primarily, to reassure the CISSP's that are working in the group, that the CISO knows the basics, or at least talks the same language. But how it relates to the broader policy and leadership functions of the job is definitely open for discussion...

The CISSP exam covers the 10 domains of the (ISC)² CBK, a collection of topics relevant to information security professionals. I admit that the CBK is broad and doesn't necessarily mean that the CISSP has advanced or in depth knowledge in any or all of those domains, but the important thing to note is that it shows that the individual is knowledgeable in those areas critical to IT security. In addition to the exam, maintaining the certification involves successful completion of CPEs not just in the CBK but also in soft skills as defined in their "Group B" professional development activities. (ISC)² recognizes the importance of those skills and the criticality of communication laterally, upward, and downward in the corporate structure. Some of the Group B topics are management courses, interpersonal communications skills, team development skills, etc. The ideal CISO must be able to bridge the gap between the geeks and the suits, and convey the security message adequately and effectively. I get the argument that certifications can be obtained by paying lots of money to a "certificate mill", but you have to start or end somewhere. If businesses and technical experiences are equal, wouldn't you want a certificate to be a tie breaker, especially one that doesn't involve just geeky stuff? One of my favorite sayings to my students: organizations want to hire geeks to protect their IT assets, but they don't want to hire a geek with the personality of a door knob.

CISO, like most other positions of leadership is just that, leading and setting the tone. I can see why you'd want you security wonks, which I am, to have their CISSP. I shows that they have proven that they are capable of learning a framework to learn concepts that will guide and further their careers, but I can also see why it really doesn't matter if the CISO has one or not... you're not hiring a CISO because they have a CISSP, you're hiring them because you believe they have proven through prior experience, responsibilities and positions that they are the right person for the job, cert or not.

The one thing that any CISO needs that cannot be quntified is the power of persuation, he\she needs to be able to take the information for subordinate leaders and craft into a message that is powerful enough so that the people who really do make the decisions understand what is required to hold back\fight the threat(s) and what those threats are.

@ODA155 I'm not sure that we disagree on much. I am by no means advocating that a CISO must have a CISSP. I mentioned the CISSP to detail what the certification encompassed. Additionally, I brought the certification topic as the tie breaker when everything else appears equal with respect to business and technical experience. Incidentally, chasing down CPEs to maintain a cert is almost trivial with respect to time and resources. I agree with you that training resources are vital to security professionals.

You mentioned the power of persuasion, which I wholeheartedly agree with. In fact, I mentioned it when I broached the subject of communicating laterally, upward and downward in the corporate ladder. I think that the single biggest obstacle to a security program is the failure to effectively communicate the security message to the C-suite primarily for budgetary and priority concerns, and to the rest of the organization for implementation and acceptance.

@GonzSTL,... also... if I'm hiring a CISO, I don't what him out there chasing down CPE's trying to maintain a cert, but I do want him to understand what it was like when he had to do that... then he'll understand why security professions working for him will need every training dollar that he can get.

@Marilyn Cohodas, I can say after having a number of discussions with HR personell in different industries that is a primary reason for it.

I do not advocate certifications for certification sake, and I do understand how they are one measure of demonstrating competence prior to obtaining the position. I used to be one of those who said "if they give me half a chance, I can prove that I can do that", but as time has gone on, I began to understand the position of "I need something to base this chance on other than the person says they can do it". The certification is an independent mile marker that the person has at least put in the time and effort to learn that much about that subject(s).

@savoiadilucania That's interesting that your experience would differ so much from what Mark sees in his work match-making CISOs and companies. I wonder if it differs by region (Mark's in the northeast) or industry sector? Most of the CISOs I know also come from IT backgrounds, but I think that's changing.

The issue is the varying interpretations of what comprises someone that is "technical". For some, it's a candidate that can conceptually walk through technical subjects and enumerate the relevant risks. For others, it's someone that can furnish a detailed explanation of the end-to-end packet delivery process and enumerate the attack vectors along that path. I tend to favor those with a more robust command of security as a discipline, as they can make informed decisions. They are otherwise reliant upon delegation, which isn't the best strategy during times of crisis...

Regarding certificates, I think that they do more than demonstrate competence. After getting two certs myself I found them invaluable in separating the security 'fact' from 'fiction.' Any good skill set requires an understanding of a foundations and I believe that the CISSP achieves that requirement. I would agree with the 'no-cert' requirement if you can independently verify your skill set if you served in the military or law enforcement.

As for reporting to the CIO, the only logical reason I would agree is if you're the CISO of a data center. I would be wary if the CISO reported to the CIO either in a regulated business such as health or financial. Implementing the separation of duties concept in reasonable scenarios is the preferred method in a regulated environment.

I couldn't be more excited about this new series of articles on becoming a CISO. As a young professional in the security world, the CISO position is my end goal. Currently holding my CISSP and CCNA I hope I am on the right track for learning business as well as the technical side of the IT World. Looking forward to next Monday.

@ekwisca, Why is it "the end goal"... may I also recommend getting your CISA. In my opinion, the second most helpful trait of a successful security professional after a very good technical foundation is understanding IT audit, its language, the people who conduct them and navigating and using the audit report to you advantage. What you'll find, especially in smaller organizations is that you, the security pro will most likely be standing between management, admin\tech and auditors, juggling everyones needs and requirements against your own. And that is where the third most useful trait comes in... effective communication skills.

@ODA155, I completely understand. Thank you for the advice. I am currently studying for my CISA to add it to my credentials. There's no end point to me studying. I continuously try to plug myself into different things in my profession for the exposure and experience. I'm looking to do all I can to have a wholly understanding of information security. Just for the benefit of being able to talk the talk of security to a wide range of business professionals. Becoming a C level executive is end my goal, me learning is a forever journey. Thanks again for the advice. Another thing to think about to help me through these tough studying times. Good thing I live in Chicago and it's almost winter. The temperature here is bound to keep me in the house with nothing to do but study.

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